ARKADELPHIA, AR – The shortest road trip in all of college football–the only game where the visiting team literally walks across the street before kickoff.
“The highway patrol will get out there and stop the traffic and we’ll walk across–takes about five to ten minutes to get from our fieldhouse over to there field,” said OBU Head Coach Todd Knight. “I don’t think there’s anything in the country where you have two schools right across the highway from each other. You can see each other’s stadium from one side to the other so i think that’s pretty unique and having two great football teams playing on the same day that even makes it better.”
The most anticipated game of the year will take place Saturday (Nov.15) as No. 14 Henderson State will play host to No. 9 Ouachita Baptist in the 88th meeting of the Battle of the Ravine with kickoff slated for 3 p.m. at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.
Henderson State heads in 9-1, looking for a 5th straight win over 9-0 OBU.
“It’s been a good battle,” said Henderson State Head Coach Scott Maxfield, “The last four or five years it’s been us or them playing for the conference championship, being conference champions, no different this year. Had some great crowds, had some great games.”
After 87 games played, HSU leads the series 42-39-6 with the Reddies winning the last four. The first game played between the two institutions was in 1895 when then Ouachita College beat Arkadelphia Methodist College, 8-0 on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28.
“It’s huge in Clark County; it’s huge in Arkadelphia; it’s a big part of who we are,” said Coach Knight. “The people that live here and grow up here, even the people that move in here it’s a big part of the community and of course we’re starting to get the state recognition that i think the game and the players on both teams really deserve.”
“Brings a lot more notoriety to Division II Football and Arkadelphia. I mean there’s not a whole lot of places that can say they’ve had two years of really great football. This year both teams are outstanding teams and it’s been a great rivalry and hopefully it’ll live up to it’s billing again this year.” said Coach Maxfield.
The game will be broadcast and available on the following:
–ESPN 106.9 FM in Arkadelphia/Southwest Arkansas
–920 AM in Little Rock
–ESPN 100.7 FM/1310 AM in Malvern/Hot Springs
You can also listen on your smartphone by downloading the ESPN Radio App.